One of the best ways to prank one of your friends is to convince him or her that you have a twin. Though it's not an easy prank to pull off, if you go about it the right way, you'll be laughing about it for years to come as you rewatch Freaky Friday and It Takes Two. The trick is to first make it believable that you have a twin by dropping hints and then to play a surprise sneak attack. If you want to know how to make it look like you have a twin, see Step 1 to get started.

Steps

Part 1

Setting the Stage

1

Come up with a personality for your twin. Your "twin" can't be exactly like you or there will be absolutely no fun in playing a prank. Think of famous real or fake twins — the Olsen twins, the Mowry Twins, or even the famous fake twins, Steve Urkel and Stefan Urquelle. They distinguish themselves by not being exactly like each other. One tends to be more brainy and reserved while the other is more suave and outgoing. But you don't have to stick to these common twin stereotypes. Not every twin is as different as Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield from Sweet Valley High, but having some distinguishing characteristics will make it easier for you to make your twin seem like a living, breathing human being.

Still, you should find a different personality for your twin; if you're more adventurous, your twin can be more into playing music. If you want to be a veterinarian, your twin can be afraid of pets, or even the outdoors.

Really think about it. Sit down and make a list of all of the characteristics of your twin. Write down the things your twin likes and dislikes, and write down at least five personality characteristics of your twin. Is your twin outgoing? Spontaneous? Hilarious? Shy? Socially awkward? The more you get to know your fake twin, the more easily you'll be able to convince your friend that your twin exists.

2

Name your twin. Don't pick anything too outlandish, or your story will be harder to believe. Unless you have a completely outlandish name, that is. Make it believable that you came from the same parents. If your name is Sarah, have a twin with another fairly common name, such as Mary or Ashley. But if your name is Persephone, then yeah, it'll be more believable that your twin's name is Calliope.

3

Pick a style for your twin. Your twin's style can be related to his or her personality. If your twin is adventurous, then he or she will probably wear more fun, casual, and rugged clothing than if your twin was Miss Perfect. Pick clothing that will suit your twin's personality and also make sure that it's not too close to your own fashion sense. Then again, you'll need to be supplying your fake twin with clothes, so you don't pick something too out there unless you feel like furnishing a new wardrobe.

Having your twin wear glasses, or having your twin not wear glasses if you wear them, is a great way to distinguish yourself from your twin.

4

Come up with a reason why your twin hasn't been around. If you're really committed to making your fake twin seem real, then you need a reason for why your twin doesn't go to your school or hang out in the same places where you hang out. You can say your twin is at a boarding school or is training at the Bollettieri camp because he or she is a tennis whiz. Or maybe your parents had a bitter divorce and your twin is living with your other parent. Whatever the reason is, you have to have a good one, or your friend will be able to see right through it.

You also have to be quick on your feet. If your friend asks why your twin is never around, you need an instant answer or your prank will be over.

Another thing you can say is that you and your twin, who doesn't go to your school, really don't get along. That could be another reason why your twin is never around.

5

Use Photoshop to make it more believable. If you're really committed to making your twin seem real, then you can doctor a photo that makes it look like you have a twin so you can show it to your friend to make the prank seem more believable. You don't have to force the photo upon your friend, though. You can just leave it as the background on your phone or as the background on your computer and let your friend come across it. Here's what you can do:[1]

Use a camera with a self-timer to take a photo of yourself in one location.

Time to get dressed up as your twin! Once you do that, you should sit in a different part of the location, such as on the other side of a couch, and take another photo of yourself.

Edit the photos so that you can cut the part of one photo with you in it right over to the other photo, so there are two versions of you in one photo. Ideally, you'll look like you're sitting right alongside your beloved twin.

Change the opacity of the pictures between 30 and 50% so you can see both pictures in one.

Use the Eraser Tool and choose a soft brush to erase the silhouette of any overlapping parts of the photos that don't make sense. Erase any other overlapping parts that won't make sense.

Change the opacity of the photo back to 100%.

Save it and use it to prank your friend!

6

Create an online persona for your twin. If you really want to go all out, then you can create a Facebook persona for your twin to make it really seem like you have one. You can dress up as your twin and create a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram account for your twin — heck, even create a blog for him or her, if you really want to go all out with it. Having a social media presence would help make the twin seem real. Your friend would wonder why you would go through the trouble of creating an online persona for someone who doesn't exist.

If your friends are in on it, then they can message the fake twin to make it seem more believable. Just make sure that there are no haters on social media who come on and say, "Hey, you don't really have a twin."

The trick is that it'll be a bit suspicious if you have a Facebook account for your twin without having any photos of the two of you together (unless you use the nifty photoshop trick above). However, your twin can be one of those mysterious people who don't have many photos up aside from their actual Facebook photo.

You can slowly friend the friend you are trying to trick on social media, but don't be too obvious about it. You can even casually say, "So my twin told me you're friends on Facebook now? Nice."

You can even message your twin back and forth a bit to make it more believable. If you have a cover about your twin being in boarding school or something, then you can say something like, "I miss you, sis! Can't wait to see you soon."

Part 2

Making Your Twin Appear

1

Pick a victim who you don't know super well. It goes without saying that it'll be a little bit hard to trick someone you've been friends with for years into thinking you have a twin — unless that person is incredibly gullible. If you want to prank your friend, it should be someone who has not been to your house or who has not spent a ton of time with you, or it'll be pretty hard to make your friend believe that you suddenly have a random sibling.

It'll be best if this person has never been over your house, unless you plan on having plenty of photoshopped photos of you and your twin around.

Ideally, this could be a new kid in your school. Though be careful — it's already so hard to be the new kid in town.

2

Casually mention your twin. Once you've found your victim, then you have to slowly start bringing up your twin. You don't have to make a big deal about it. Just say something like, "Sarah was just telling me about this new show..." and then have the person ask who the heck Sarah is. Don't say something like, "Sarah, my twin, is awesome," or that will make it too obvious. Find a way to bring up your twin in conversation a few times instead of just having your twin pay your friend a visit out of the blue.

It's even better if you have other friends who are in on it who also bring it up casually. The more people making it believable, the better.

3

Have your friends help out. It'll be pretty hard to pull off the twin prank on your own. If you really want it to be convincing, then you should get your friends to also mention the fact that you have a twin, and to even take it a step further. They could interact with your twin on social media, pretend to call your twin in front of your friend, or just talk about how much fun they had at the water park with your twin over the weekend. Don't lay it on too thick — just enough so that the idea of you having a twin begins to be plausible.

Just be very careful with this. You don't want the wrong person to find out about your fake twin plan and then to totally blow your cover.

4

Find an excuse to be absent. When the time is right, you need to plan an exit. Maybe you can say that you can't make it to the movies that night, but that your twin may be able to come. Maybe you're at a party and you say your twin is outside and that you need to go outside to let her in. Maybe you can say that you have a cold or that you're grounded, but that your twin can come out to play. Whatever it is, make it pretty believable without being too dramatic. You'll need to be out of there so that your twin can magically appear, right?

Just tell your friend that you'll be around again soon. You can say something like, "My twin Sarah's so much more fun than me anyway. You'll barely miss me."

5

Make your fake twin appear. Once you disappear, it's time to put on the clothes of your supposed twin, do your hair differently, or just do whatever else you need to do to make your get-up believable. Then, just show up into a situation where your friend and your other friends may be. The other friends can help play it up and say hi to your twin, or just act like it's no big deal if your twin is around. If it's just your friend and the twin, it may be a little harder to make it believable.

Start talking to your friend. Make sure you use a slightly different voice so it's less likely that you're faking it.

Don't spend too much time trying to prank your friend. After the initial surprise, just play it cool. If you try too hard, your friend will be on to your tricks pretty fast.

6

Tell your friend that he or she has been pranked. Once you've spent enough time hanging out as your twin, you can just say something like, "Got you good!" or take off your disguise to show that you've really been faking it the whole time. You can take a photo of the surprised expression on your friend's face or just have your friends joining in on the fun. Make sure your friend doesn't feel like you're being mean but that you were just having a bit of fun.

Once you've pulled off your twin prank, you can feel proud of yourself for a prank well done and enjoy returning to your life as a non-twin!

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Tips

You can get a friend to play the twin. If he/she doesn't look like you, that's completely fine! There are two types of twins: fraternal and identical. Fraternal twins are twins where both kids are twins but they may not look alike (these can even be both boys, both girls or a pair of boy/girls in the birth twin set) while identical twins are kids who most often look alike, dress alike and even sometimes act alike (this are always two kids of the same gender).